1926-2001
Benjamin A. Nelson, 74 died Saturday morning September 15, 2001 at his home in East Swanzey after a battle with cancer.
He was born in Keene October 3, 1926, son of Benjamin Adelbert and Marion (Greenleaf) Nelson, and graduated from Keene High School in 1944.
During World War II, her served in the U.S. Army's 752nd tank battalion, 88th Division in Italy. He was a Captain in the N.H. National Guard and was recalled to active duty during the Cuban missle crisis in 1962.
Mr. Nelson was the company archivist at Markem Corp. in Keene, retiring in 1995 after 42 years with the company. At the time of his death, he was still serving as the companys archivist. As a spokesman for Markem, he spoke to more than 300 trade associations and universities in the United States, Europe, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, and wrote many papers.
In 1985, he received an indus­try award for his efforts to intro­duce bar-coding at the School of Packaging at Michigan State University. He served on many bar-code industry boards and in retirement consulted to that industry. In 1995, he formed Nelson As­sociates, devoted to education in automatic identification. In 1997, Helmers Publishing of Peterbor­ough published his history of the industry, Punched Cards to Bar Codes - A 200-Year Journey."
Mr. Nelson enjoyed reading, many kinds of music, woodwork­ing, collecting and showing an­tique tractors and engines, and travel. He was also a private pilot.
Survivors include his wife Eunice Ann (Scuf) (Parker) Nelson whom he married May 27, 1948, a daughter, Leslie Nelson Haines of Houston, a son, Douglas Nelson of East Swanzey, two grandchildren, and a niece and a nephew.
A memorial service will be held Tuesday at 4 p.m. at Fletcher Funeral Home and Cremation Services, 33 Marlboro St., Keene. Burial will be in Woodland Cemetery, Keene.
Friends may call Tuesday from 2 to 4 p.m. at the funeral home.